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a standout of the britpop era. Jun 02, 2006
'E.G.O.,' otherwise known as 'Everybody's Got One,' (one of the more clever, though obvious, album titles) announced echobelly to the world as a force to reck with.
the band, fronted by the pixie-like (and stunning) sonya aurora madan, released 'E.G.O.' in 1994, a year or two before britpop became insufferably polished and overly produced. it harnassed the same sort of kinetic enery as blur's 'modern life is rubbish' and elastica's debut album. it was loud, ballsy, angry, emotional, in-your-face, and all the while remained incredibly melodic and sing-alongable. echobelly were never a band to use brass and strings (blur's 'the great escape' comes immediately to mind), and glen's guitar work was wondefully straightforward--no effects, no pedals, just rock.
what separated echobelly from their peers was that echobelly actually had some to say in their songs, particularly through madan's feminist posturing and leanings. songs like 'father ruler king computer,' 'give her a gun,' 'i can't imagine the world without me,' and 'call me names' were succint, angst-ridden without coming across as obnoxious or overly angry (alanis morrisette, for example).
fortunately, madan's heathy degree of cynism was balanced a nice vulnerability and loneliness ('imsomniac,' in particular). had she not counter-balanced the angst, the album may have been a bit insufferable. a lot of the credit must go to glen johannsen as well. he's a top-rate musician. his guitar work is muscular, but not opressive. it's the perfect backdrop for madan and the results more often than not are spectacular.
unfortunately echobelly's later albums ('lustra,' 'people are expensive,' and 'gravity pulls') don't compare to the first two, but such comparisons are often unfair as it's now been 12 years since 'E.G.O.' and as the band grew up and mellowed out, so did their sound. it's not necessarily a bad thing, but one can't help long for a time when sonya aurora madan, probably the most beautiful of all the britpop-era vocalists, laced her lyrics with venom and sang with the voice of an angel.
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